Centre for Democratic Institutions

Constituency Development Funds Workshop | Monash University Melbourne
12-13 March 2012

In March 2012 Monash University convened a collaborative research workshop on the operation of constituency development funds. CDI Associate Kevin Rozzoli participated in the workshop on CDI’s behalf.

Constituency development funds (CDFs) are an emerging and often contentious tool for grass-roots community development, in which members of parliament play a central role in allocating funds for local projects. Advocates argue that CDFs give members of parliament the capacity to by-pass dysfunctional bureaucracies and deliver locally relevant projects. On the other hand, critics argue that CDF accountability mechanisms are weak and they are prone to inefficient and corrupt use.

CDI has a long standing interest in CDFs and in 2007 sponsored a paper from Joe Ketan on 'The Use and Abuse of Electoral Development Funds and Their Impact on Electoral Politics and Government in Papua New Guinea'.

Monash University and a consortium of US-based partners are proposing to conduct further research on the topic, with a view to identifying international norms to strengthen the operation of CDFs as a legitimate mechanism for resource allocation. CDFs have become an entrenched feature in many of CDI’s focus countries, especially in the Pacific, and we will be following closely the results of this work.

The workshop was extremely interesting and informative and has great significance for the work of CDI in the Pacific and Timor Leste.

Full Conference Report | Kevin Rozzoli

CDI Policy Paper 2007/02 | 20 August 2007:
Joseph Ketan - The Use and Abuse of Electoral Development Funds and their Impact on Electoral Politics and Governance in Papua New Guinea.

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	Crawford School of Public Policy	ANU College of Asia and the Pacific	The Centre for Democratic Institutions (CDI) is a government-funded body that supports the efforts of new democracies in the Asia-Pacific region to strengthen their political systems. It provides training, technical assistance and peer support for parliamentarians and emerging leaders in Southeast Asia and the South Pacific, with a particular focus on Indonesia, Timor-Leste, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Fiji. The Australian Government established CDI in 1998. It is funded primarily by the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID). One of the primary ways in which CDI works to promote democracy is through strengthening parliamentary governance and political parties. The Centre focusses on parliamentary and political party development, and conducts flagship training courses and policy-relevant research on these subjects.
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